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Report Tells of Children’s Abuse at Lake Alice

Originally published in The New Zealand Herald, October 15, 2001

Terror ruled at Lake Alice Hospital’s child and adolescent unit, says a retired High Court judge in a Government-commissioned report.

The Government has apologised and paid $6.5 million to 95 people who said they were abused at the mental institution’s child and adolescent unit in the 1970s.

Division of the compensation was based on Sir Rodney Gallen’s report, never made public.

The Crown failed on Friday to prevent publication of the report—which it claimed was confidential—by Wellington’s Evening Post.

In the High Court at Wellington, Justice Ron Young allowed publication of information from the first section, with legal arguments to be heard this week on the second.

Sir Rodney said children sent to Lake Alice in the 1970s lived in a “state of extreme fear and hopelessness. Statement after statement indicates the children concerned lived in a state of terror.”

Amid horrific stories of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and drugs used to punish children, apparently chosen at random, was that of a boy being locked in a cage with a “totally insane” adult patient.

Sir Rodney called it “the most appalling story placed before me.”

“He describes a situation where, for a considerable period, he crouched in the corner being pawed by the particular inmate, screaming to be released, and unable to get out or get away from the contact to which he had been exposed.”

Sir Rodney, who received statements from all 95 claimants and interviewed about half of them, said he had not engaged in an inquiry in the usual sense, as he had not heard the stories of staff against whom allegations had been made.

“Nevertheless, I am satisfied that in the main the allegations which have been made are true.”

The children’s ages varied from 8 to 16, and averaged 13 or 14. While some had mental illnesses, the vast majority had only behavioural problems.

“All were in need of understanding, love and compassionate care. That is not what they received at Lake Alice.”

The unit should never have been placed at Lake Alice as the children became associated with its stigma, he said. “They were teased at school and in the community as being mentally ill when they were not, and opportunities which might otherwise have been available to them in terms of employment were denied them because they were seen as having had a mentally unstable past.”

Sir Rodney said while the use of ECT on children in the 1970s was considered uncommon, the statements and medical notes made it clear it was in constant use at Lake Alice, sometimes being used more than once a day, as a form of “aversion therapy.”

ECT was given unmodified—that is, without the patient having been anaesthetised or given muscle relaxants.

A claimant told Sir Rodney that one professional person when told about the treatment “simply refused to believe anyone had been administering ECT to children at all, let alone unmodified.”

But Sir Rodney said ECT was used not as therapy, but to punish anything from poor school work to running away.

“There are allegations, which I accept, that it was brought into the dining room and placed in a prominent position in order to encourage children to eat their meals if they were reluctant.”

Descriptions of the pain the children suffered were chilling, he said.

“All the children knew when ECT was being administered, and claimant after claimant speaks of the screaming plainly audible to other children in the unit.”

The Commissioner for Children, Roger McClay, asked at the weekend for assurances that no children were still under the care of the staff responsible for the abuse alleged in Sir Rodney’s report.

Mr McClay praised the Government for apologising and paying compensation.

He said that in the absence of denials or the staff members’ side of the story, he could not “stomach the thought” that any “tainted” people alleged to have committed such acts still had access to children with mental health needs.

“I will approach the police, health and welfare authorities …

“Not all staff will have been categorised as cruel and unkind, but who knows who can be trusted?”